Martha Graham - An American Original in Performance
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bertram Ross, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Robert CohanBrand: Kultur
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-07-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
Movie Reviews of Martha Graham - An American Original in Performance
Movie Review: Dance as the Hidden Language of the Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
Martha Graham is commonly recognized as one of the most important contributors to the art of American dance during this past century. She realized significant innovations in the fields of choreography, dance performance, lighting, stage design, costuming and also commissioned new music from contemporary composers for her various works.
Graham was born in Pennsylvania in 1894. In 1910, she witnessed a performance by Ruth Saint-Denis and decided that she wanted to become a dancer. After some preliminary theater and dance studies at the University of Cumnoch, in 1916 Graham enrolled in the Denishawn School, run by Ruth Saint-Denis and Ted Shawn. For the next eight years, Graham thrived at Denishawn as both a student and an instructor. The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance was opened in 1926 and by 1939, her modern dance company began touring the United States and Cuba. After some thirty years of prolific activity, at the age 76, Martha Graham announced her retirement from the performance stage.
This Kultur DVD, "Martha Graham: In Performance", features three works choreographed specifically for black and white film camera during the years 1957, 1961 and 1958. It begins with a 30-minute demonstration film, "A Dancer's World", where Ms. Graham introduces the viewer to her company and gives an intimate glimpse into the exercises that precede the performance of a dance piece.
Next come "Night Journey" and "Appalachian Spring", two different works of "dance for camera". Alexander Hammid, a husband of experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, directed "Night Journey". The camera is used as an integral component of the stage choreography; with different viewing angles and camera positions only being possible by staging particular short sequences within the choreography, then editing the segments together to form a smoothly flowing whole. "Appalachian Spring" is a cinematic interpretation for Graham's choreography of a Quaker wedding. It will likely remain as one of her best-remembered works.
All three films document well the signature Graham dance style that consists of abrupt contraction and release of different parts of the body; the intimate relation of the dancer's breathing to emotion and movement; positions of austere, angular body line; and close dancer proximity to the ground.
"Martha Graham: In Performance" is a film document of significant historical importance. Any self-respecting fan of dance should own a copy of this DVD to aid in their personal study, and reflection on, one of the great artist's of our time.
Summary of Martha Graham - An American Original in Performance
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